Often the best fashion is about transgression. It challenges convention. At its most basic level, that’s how we got women in pants and in miniskirts, all of which horrified plenty of viewers back in the day. It is uncomfortable. (...) It takes risks. Otherwise, as (Stefano) Tonchi (the editor of W Magazine) said, “like any art form, it becomes propaganda.” Otherwise it risks irrelevance. Otherwise it’s just clothes.

During my last visit to Helsinki I couldn't help but notice an ever-growing trend: young girls to older professionals all clad in dark skinny jeans or trousers, a black trench coat, a gray scarf and a black leather bag. Their blond hair is swept up on a pony tail or a bun, their cheeks are brushed with bronzer (or some weird contouring make-up). The younger ones team up their outfit with a pair of neon-color sneakers and the more mature ones with black ankle boots. They all look the same. I've seen people in these types of clothes before, but it seems to me that a type of aesthetically minimalist "uniform dressing" is increasing. In a recent documentary about Iris Apfel, the grand old lady of eccentric style, Iris lamented the absence of personal, interesting styles on the streets. People are too busy, so they wear what's safe. Instead of exploring the myriad world of interesting fashions, they choose to wear what's normal, where you can't go wrong.

Of course one can't assume that everyone gets excited about adventurous clothes, colors or prints. Some people are truly saved by the current minimalist aesthetic. From my days of working in clothing retail, I remember a particular type of client who hates clothes shopping more than anything, and how happy simply cut black, white and gray clothes makes them. Uniform dressing is like manna from heaven to people like that. But I still agree with Iris Apfel: the world is full of so many different types of beautiful. We can quite easily accommodate that beauty as a part of our everyday lives through clothes and accessories, if we just dare. It's a shame that so many people choose safety instead. There is something deeply joyless about uniform dressing.

We all make our own choices, but it's hard for me to accept that people want to look like the person next to them. If they do, what does that say about the society we live in, the types of people we are? Do we still think that people who dress up in colorful, different clothes are superficial, that beauty is vanity, to be snickered at and rejected? Is there a part of us that believes that proper people wear neutral clothes because they spend their time doing something more important than dressing up, like preparing healthy raw porridge or smoothies, or succeeding at work? Vanessa Friedman wrote recently in the New York Times, in a different context, though:

Often the best fashion is about transgression. It challenges convention. At its most basic level, that’s how we got women in pants and in miniskirts, all of which horrified plenty of viewers back in the day. It is uncomfortable. (...) It takes risks. Otherwise, as (Stefano) Tonchi (the editor of W Magazine) said, “like any art form, it becomes propaganda.” Otherwise it risks irrelevance. Otherwise it’s just clothes.

I might be interpreting Friedman loosely here, but could it be that the type of uniform dressing we are witnessing these days is a form of self-suggested crowd control in our uncertain times? It is just another wave of limiting human / female freedom in an age of unstable economic and political climate? Typically in times like the current, people begin to drift toward what's safe, what's regulated, calculated, proper. There's no time for dreaming or breaking the norm. But the safer choices we make today, the less room there is for choosing freely tomorrow, and the stronger the norm becomes. Then, uniform dressing is a form of street propaganda: wear this, and fit in. Be practical. Dress for the life you have, not the one you want.

I don't mean that women should all start wearing colorful kaftans, futuristic space dresses or the like. I guess what I mean is that in those moments when we feel that the best choice we can make is to wear a pair of black skinny jeans and a black trench coat, we should remember what we are not choosing to wear. Just because, because of freedom.

No worries, no snarkiness detected! :) There are some "simple dressers" out there that I truly admire, too, like Margaret Howell. She always looks beautiful and expressive in a pair of simple trousers and a well-cut shirt.

I feel like I aim for basics that fall into this category - stuff I don't have to think about and can just throw on, and they're appropriate for work and play. I feel like the accessories is where I like it to get more interesting like glasses, jewelry, nails, lip color, hair color, etc. I feel like that's less work and just swapping in/out more "modular" flair (for lack of a better word). Also, I find with lilac hair, I tend to not want to go overboard with clothes. There is a certain ease of not having to focus on what to wear, either. Everything is interchangeable and I can make it as punchy or plain as I want depending on my mood or time.

I guess I'd argue that there is a fine yet somewhat important difference between wearing basics and, for lack of a better term, "the normcore attitude". Basics are great, I have a bunch too, but I still find it is important to mix things up, like you said, with for example accessories (or with lilac hair). The normcore attitude is what saddens me: that people take clothes and style so seriously that there is no attempt to make anything your own. I think you're a great example of someone who can wear basics and still bring yourself to the mix, with cool glasses, nice jewelry or make-up. You always look like you, even if you wear a simple black dress and black tights or something. :)

I went to Paris for the first time earlier this month, and was quite surprised to see this for myself. The Paris Uniform: ankle-length skinny jeans, white converse All-Stars, motorcycle jacket, big scarf, big brown or black leather purse. Like, literally every white woman under the age of 50 was wearing this with barely any variation. I even joked about wearing it as a Halloween costume. I love a moto jacket and a big scarf, but I found myself feeling a bit disappointed after a lifetime of tales about the legendary chicness of Parisian women. There was much more diversity and (it seemed to me) personal flair among women from non-western European cultures: west African mud cloth worn in all kinds of styles and various coverage/styles of Middle Eastern abayas. I saw a striking woman wearing a hijab and a long white fur cape with a jeweled brooch - she looked like a queen in a fairy tale.

I don't know if the Paris Uniform is another manifestation of normcore and therefore the most stylish thing to wear at the moment (after all, they are Parisians, they should know best), or if there is some larger societal change that is making everyone dress the same. Either way, it is disappointing to me.